Thailand Guide
The east coast
Accommodation
1 Areca Lodge 198/21 Soi Saisong 13 (aka Soi Diana Inn), Central Pattaya 
038 410123 
www.arecalodge.com Unusually stylish place for Pattaya, with pleasantly furnished air-con rooms in two wings built around two swimming pools, all of them with balconies. Price: B1000
2 The Cottage Off Pattaya 2 Rd, North Pattaya 038 425650 
www.thecottagepattaya.com Good-value, simply furnished semi-detached brick bungalows, all with air-con, pleasantly set among tall trees within a mature tropical garden away from the main road but opposite the Central Festival shopping centre. Facilities include two small swimming pools and wi-fi in most rooms. Price: B1000
3 Diana Dragon Apartment 198/16 Soi Saisong 13 (aka Soi Diana Inn), Central Pattaya 038 423928 www.dianapattaya.co.th This long-running Pattaya institution has the cheapest doubles in town, and they're good value considering the competition: huge and quite light, with either fan or air-con, plus use of the pool at Diana Inn, 100m away. Price: B350
4 Dusit Thani Pattaya 240/2 Pattaya Beach Road, North Pattaya 038 425611 www.dusit.com In the less sleazy part of town, this upper-bracket Thai chain hotel is one of only a few Beach Road hotels to be actually on the beach (the others are the southern end). Sea-view rooms are worth paying extra for as the impressive panoramas take in the whole bay. Price: B4500
5 GI Guest House 75/14 Soi 5 (Soi Post Office), off Beach Rd, Jomtien 038 232968gitravel@gmail.com Bright, cheery air-con rooms with TV in a small block across the road from the GI Tour office. Sea views cost a bit extra. Price: B600
6 Ice Inn Cnr Saisong 12 and Pattaya 2 Rd, Central Pattaya 038 720671 www.iceinnpattaya.com Cheap fan-cooled singles and reasonably priced doubles in this small 30-room hotel behind a handicrafts shop a few metres from the busier bar-beer sois. Rooms are simple but are all en suite; all doubles have air-con. Price: B500
7 Sandalay Resort Between sois 1 and 2, Pattaya Beach Rd, North Pattaya 038 422660 www.sandalayresort.com This 100-room hotel with swimming pool is in the quieter northern part of town just across the road from the beach. It has contemporary-styled, well-designed, though quite small, standard air-con rooms plus impressively large deluxe versions. Both options are available with sea view and tiny balcony at extra cost, but all have free wi-fi. Good discounts often available. Price: B2500
8 Pattaya Marriott 218 Pattaya Beach Rd, Central Pattaya 038 412120 www.marriotthotels.com/pyxmc Located in the heart of the resort (attached to the Royal Garden Plaza shopping centre), and across the road from the beach, this international chain hotel is both very central and refreshingly calm, not least because it's designed around a huge swimming pool and tropical garden full of palms. Not surprisingly it's the first choice for anyone in Pattaya on business. Rooms are capacious and comfortable and have either pool- or sea view. Facilities include a spa, floodlit tennis courts, mountain-bike rental and a kids' club. Price: B4500
9 
Rabbit Resort Dongtan beachfront, 400m north up the beach from Thep Prasit/Beach Road junction, Jomtien 038 303303 www.rabbitresort.com Beautiful place that's the most appealing option in Jomtien, and located on the nicest stretch of beach, the predominantly but not exclusively gay, Dongtan Beach. Most accommodation is in teakwood cottages that are elegantly furnished with Thai fabrics and antiques and have garden-style bathrooms; there are also some "forest rooms" in a two-storey block. All are set around a tropical garden just metres off the beach. Price: B4500
10 Sheraton Pattaya Resort 437 Thanon Pratamnak (Cliff Rd), South Pattaya 038 259888 www.starwoodhotels.com Pattaya's best hotel is smaller and more intimate than most in its class and offers five-star rooms in its two hotel wings as well as in private pavilions. The beautiful series of freeform swimming pools is set within lush gardens – compensating for the minuscule private beach – though it's built on a hill so be prepared for lots of steps. You'll need transport to get to the shops and restaurants of downtown Pattaya. Price: B4500
11 Sugar Hut 391/18 Thanon Tabphaya, midway between South Pattaya and Jomtien 038 251686 www.sugar-hut.com The most characterful accommodation in Pattaya comprises a charming collection of 33 Ayutthaya-style traditional wooden bungalows set in a fabulously lush garden with three swimming pools an a great restaurant. The bungalows are in tropical-chic style, with low beds, open-roofed shower rooms, mosquito nets and private verandas; the more expensive ones have a sitting room as well. You'll need your own transport as it's nowhere near the restaurants, shops or sea. Price: B3000
12 Woodlands Hotel and Resort 164 Thanon Pattaya-Naklua, North Pattaya 038 421707 www.woodland-resort.com . A quiet, unpretentious and welcoming family-friendly garden resort 100m north of the Dolphin Circle, 400m from a scruffy but quiet thread of beach. The quite elegant, wooden-floored air-con rooms are in two storeys set round the pools and garden, the most expensive in each category have direct access to the pool from ground-floor balconies. Broadband throughout. Price: 3100